Shanahan addresses ‘dramatic' concerns about Purdy's preseason reps

Kyle Shanahan is not concerned about Brock Purdy's preseason playing time in the slightest.

Shanahan joined KNBR’s “Tolbert & Copes" on Wednesday and responded to the critiques of Purdy playing in a preseason game without the majority of San Francisco's first-team offense.

“I get what people say but sometimes I think people are just trying to be a little dramatic with it,” Shanahan said.

“Obviously if he thought it was something [where] he couldn’t protect himself or the guys couldn’t match up at all then we wouldn’t do it, but we didn’t feel that way. We liked the reps that Brock got, and he was excited to play.

“He was in there with possibly our two starting tackles, our starting center, our starting right guard…There are guys [on the offensive line] that are NFL players, so I didn’t see it as anything wrong with the offensive line, I actually thought [they] matched up pretty well and did a pretty good job in that game.”

Critics called Kyle Shanahan "crazy" for starting Brock Purdy last week without Trent Williams in the game to protect him. On Tolbert & @Adamcopes, Shanahan responds:

"Sometimes people are just trying to be a little dramatic with it... These guys [the o-line that played] are NFL… pic.twitter.com/Seb1FbMjB9

— KNBR (@KNBR) August 22, 2024

Purdy struggled during his preseason debut but it’s hard to draw any inferences from a game in early August. San Francisco still was without starting left tackle Trent Williams, a critical piece of the offensive line, along with some injury issues to other linemen.

The 49ers will close out the preseason on Friday night against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium and after that, San Francisco will have to trim its roster down to 53 players for the start of the regular season.

Given the talent-laden roster that Shanahan has to work with this season, the 49ers are in a good position heading into a Week 1 matchup against the New York Jets at Levi’s Stadium.